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You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you're working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success - but only if you persist.--Isaac Asimov

Saturday, October 15

Joy

Holly started it, now Carter is sending "The Search For Joy" my way. Leave it to Holly to start a meme that is not only fun, but thought-provoking.

I tend to be a strange assortment of joyous and angst-ridden. But, I have always followed one rule: The less you like in life, the fewer opportunities for happiness there is.

I understand that there are things that everyone doesn't like. What happens when your list of dislikes becomes longer than your likes?

My latest post about joy isn't about sex, love, blah, blah. It's about winning a book. To be honest, I am happy that I can now read Talyn long before I would have been able to buy it. But, getting something that I have been drooling over isn't joy. That moment of receiving is actually the anti-climax. It's the mix of goodness that the action carried. Sheila cared enough about Talyn (and Holly) to think of and to spend a lot of money on this contest. The time, books, postage, etc. (Almost one-quarter of what I make in a month if not more, I'm guessing) Holly is signing them for us then sending them to us. The caring and kindness shown to us, the readers, is more than most would.

My girlfriend is constantly saying that I find happiness in the little things. It's true. If you can't find a little joy when you son lets his three-year-old cousin play with his favorite toy, where will you find it? I find joy in seeing the good in the world. Where do you find it?

And here are the rules:

THE SEARCH FOR JOY

Search your blog for the word “joy” used in the context of “happiness.” If you cannot find the word in your weblog, you may use any of the select list of synonyms below.

If your weblog does not include a built-in search engine, then you can use Google to search it only for the word you wish to find.

If you’ve found the word and it was not used facetiously or sarcastically, good for you. All you need to do is link to your earlier entry, and write a few words about that joyous moment. If, however, you have no joy (whole words only) in your weblog, you must dig deep in your soul and find something wonderful in your life right now. One little thing that fills you with warmth, that bubbles you over with quiet happiness, or tickles you with its good-hearted hilarity, or makes you glad you just took a breath, and are getting ready to take another. It doesn’t have to be anything big. A smile someone gave you; your cat on your shoulder; the way the light angles through your window and casts rainbows on your floor. All it has to be is something genuine, something real, something that matters to you.

Because we all need joy in our lives, and need to take the time — from time to time — to recognize it. And sometimes, we need to pass it on.

Even if we’re a big pain in the ass when we do.

When you’ve dealt with your own joy, pass the quest on to five other bloggers.